Altruism in Humans

C. Daniel Batson

The most clearly articulated and systematically tested theory of altruism in humans to date

Contains a comprehensive review of theory and research related to altruism

Explores links between relevant psychological theory and neuroscience research

Altruism in Humans

First Edition

C. Daniel Batson

Description

One of the "Best Books of 2011" from the Center for Optimal Adult Development

We send money to help famine victims halfway around the world. We campaign to save whales and oceans. We stay up all night to comfort a friend with a broken relationship. People will at times risk -- even lose -- their lives for others, including strangers. Why do we do these things? What motivates such behavior?

Altruism in Humans takes a hard-science look at the possibility that we humans have the capacity to care for others for their sakes rather than simply for our own. Based on an extensive series of theory-testing laboratory experiments conducted over the past 35 years, this book details a theory of altruistic motivation, offers a comprehensive summary of
the research designed to test the empathy-altruism hypothesis, and considers the theoretical and practical implications of this conclusion.

Authored by the world's preeminent scholar on altruism, this landmark work is an authoritative scholarly resource on the theory surrounding altruism and its potential contribution to better interpersonal relations and a better society.

Altruism in Humans

First Edition

C. Daniel Batson

Author Information

Dan Batson is an experimental social psychologist. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton University in 1972 and then taught at the University of Kansas until his retirement in 2008. For over 30 years, his research has focused on the existence of altruistic motivation and on its antecedents and consequences. He has published well over a hundred research articles and chapters on these topics. This is his second book on altruism.

Altruism in Humans

First Edition

C. Daniel Batson

Reviews and Awards

"Daniel Batson's ALTRUISM IN HUMANS is simply one of the most important books of our time for anyone who wants to ponder the problems and prospects of our species. The culmination of a distinguished career of creative and rigorous experimentation, written with both eloquence and rigor, Batson's book illuminates both the power of altruistic motivation and its unfortunate limitations. Since Adam Smith's THE THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS, nobody has made a larger contribution to this topic."
Martha Nussbaum
The University of Chicago

"I thought Batson's earlier book on altruism was the cat's pajamas, but this new one is even better. Economists and evolutionary biologists investigate helping behavior, but Batson digs deeper -- into the psychological motives that produce helping (and its absence). Batson constructs a powerful defense of the idea that genuinely altruistic motives are real. His conceptual clarity will win the respect of philosophers and scientists alike."
Elliott Sober
University of Wisconsin

"Debates over the existence and importance of genuinely altruistic motivation have played an important role in philosophy since antiquity. By using carefully crafted experiments, Batson and his associates have made more progress on these issues in the last three decades than philosophers have made in the previous two millennia. This extraordinary volume offers a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of Batson's transformative work and its implications. It is must reading for philosophers, social scientists and everyone else who is interested in really understanding human nature."
Stephen Stich
Board of Governors Professor
of Philosophy & Cognitive Science
Rutgers University

"Altruism in Humans is a detailed, empirically based theoretical argument that is appropriate for graduate students in social psychology and other professionals in the field. It presents a very complex theoretical argument... I believe that Altruism in Humans is a momentous work that comes after Batson's retirement and will stand as the hallmark of his career." -- Robert D. Mather, Associate Professor of psychology at Central Oklahoma, PsycCRITIQUES